ABSTRACT:The poor safety record of the construction industry raises concerns about the extent to which it is able to integrate workers disabled as a result of a workplace injury back to the workplace. A review of the literature indicates there is little empirical evidence about the status of disability management (DM) in the Canadian construction industry, specifically with respect to injured construction workers returning to the workplace with a disability. To address this limitation, a web-based survey was administered to a sample of Manitoban construction organizations to enquire about workers disabled as a result of a workplace injury in the industry, practices in place to accommodate them, and barriers to their employment. The analysis of the responses of 88 organizations showed that the majority of responding organizations employed few disabled workers. Disabilities due to musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) were the most common, followed by physical mobility and hearing impairments. Respondents saw retaining valued and experienced employees and maintaining employee morale as the main reasons for implementing a DM program. They also found the lack of suitable modified or alternate work to be the most important barrier to DM; however, they identified the provision of such work as the most common practice implemented by them, raising questions about this work's suitability to disabled workers.

Purpose Support at the organizational and managerial levels defines the degree to which construction workplaces can accommodate disabled and injured workers. There is little empirical evidence about the indicators and practices that can be used by construction organizations to evaluate disability management (DM). This paper aims to develop and validate key indicators and practices of disability/injury management within construction. Design/methodology/approach To achieve this, the research used a two-phase sequential exploratory review of literature, followed by a quantitative phase, using analytic hierarchy process. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) involved recruiting eight health and safety and DM experts to conduct pairwise comparisons of these indicators. Findings The results found return-to-work and disability and injury management practices to be the most important indicators and physical accessibility and claims management practices to be the least important. Practical implications The development of these indicators should help construction organizations develop DM programs that better meet their needs, and benchmark and improve related performance. Social implications The results could also be useful for all stakeholders in general and decision makers in particular involved within construction. Originality/value Such prioritization helps organizations to prioritize their DM practices thereby optimizing performance.

PurposeA review of the literature revealed a lack of coherent frameworks for implementing disability management, particularly within the construction industry. This study involved developing the construction disability management maturity model (CDM3) to assess the maturity of disability management (DM) practices in construction organisations.Design/methodology/approachIn its current form, the model assessed twelve indicators using a series of questions representing relevant best practices for each indicator and five different maturity levels. An analytical hierarchical process was conducted using eight construction and DM experts to determine the weights of importance of these different indicators. The model was then applied to evaluate ten construction companies in Manitoba, Canada.FindingsThe results revealed that the indicators of “Return to Work”, “Disability and Injury Prevention”, and “Senior Management Support” practises were the most heavily weighted and, thus, the most important. Companies' DM performance was observed, on average, to be at the quantitatively managed level. “Senior Management Support” and “Disability Injury Prevention” practices were observed to be the most mature indicators on average, revealing a potential relationship between the most important and most mature indicators.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size of companies evaluated is a key limitation in that it does not permit for the generalisation of the results.Practical implicationsThis study provided a framework for benchmarking the DM performance of construction organisations.Originality/valueNo similar maturity model has been developed to date to assess DM in construction, making the CDM3 the first of its kind to evaluate a construction organisation's existing DM practices against best practises.

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Purpose Energy conservation literacy within households is a contemporary and topical issue globally. However, scant research has been conducted on energy-saving literacy amongst Ghanaian households. To substantiate the problem, this paper aims to examine energy conservation literacy and behaviours among Ghanaian households in the Greater Accra Region. Design/methodology/approach The study assessed household electricity use and explored determinants of household energy conservation behaviours. Data was collected through a survey administered to households within the target region and analysed using descriptive statistics and Spearmen’s rank correlation. Findings Results showed electricity conservation among households is greatly influenced by the number of household occupants, household income levels, and the quality and quantity of appliances. The study also found that conservation behaviours are positively correlated to the number of occupants, household income levels, the quantity of electrical appliances, age of household members, number of rooms and level of urbanization within the home’s geographical region. Cumulatively, the findings suggest households held positive attitudes towards efficient energy practices. Enigmatically, the use of energy-conserving alternative technologies was not widely used by households; hence, this factor does not significantly affect household energy conservation. Research limitations/implications Although limited to Ghana’s capital region, the findings can be used to inform policy and regulations at the regional and national levels in designing an efficient and effective mechanism to reduce the country’s overall energy use. Practical implications Premised upon the findings, the study recommends an intensification of education and awareness-creation on various energy-saving regulations and initiatives and thorough education on the usage of standardized (approved) refrigerators to promote the consistent adoption of energy conservation measures among households. Originality/value This study pioneers investigations into the influence of household demographic variables on overall electricity conservation behaviours exhibited by Ghanaian households